Posts Tagged ‘Miami Heat’

After a frenetic trade deadline which saw 9% of the NBA moved, David Wood, Mallory Factor, and I answered the call of the CtB staffer’s conch, and assembled to podcast. We discuss trade day winners and losers, how Thursday’s trades effect the Cavs, our predictions for the the rest of the regular season, and Kevin Love’s highly retouched GQ cover. Also, included on this podcast is a fun episode of, “Story Time with Mallory.” We approach each subject with our brand of somewhat detail-oriented analysis and late night punchiness. Listen on Soundcloud above, with this link, or check us out on iTunes.

–Update: Technical difficulties scuttled the first Soundcloud post. Computers… am-I-right? All should be well now (though if the iTunes link isn’t updated yet, just wait for it).

—Update II: Thanks to @pinwheelempire for the awesome trade deadline 2015 flowchart. Check out the full version here.

Revenge is a dish best served in Cleveland. The last time the Cavs met the Heat was on Christmas Day in Miami, and they lost, 101-91. The Wine & Gold have been on a kill streak lately and are looking to continue revenging losses from earlier in the season. I’m sure LeBron James wants to make this a statement game and show he has no fears playing in emotional situations. (more…)

Santa decided to get Dwyane Wade a little taste of his youth for Christmas, and little Dwyane used it up to beat his old buddy King James. Wade had 24 points in the first half, and the Cavs aided the rest of the Heat by tossing away the ball ten times. They also decided to give the Florida natives the present of acting like a soft blanket in the paint for the first 24 minutes and were out hustled in every way possible to be down by 14 going into half-time. During the second half, the Cavs shook off their Christmas hangovers and played much tighter, but there weren’t enough sandpaper plays in the world to rough up that blanket they gave Miami early on. (more…)

Hi. I’m John. I started this website in 2008, and was its Editor-In-Chief until after the 2010-11 season. I spend lots of time doing law school-y things now, such as going to law school. This season, I’m going to be doing a weekly column, as well as some other things as time allows. Over the past 11 seasons, I have watched LeBron James play basketball an unhealthy amount, and I’ve learned a few things about his game over that time. (These columns will be more varied as the season goes on, but don’t be surprised if the first few are LeBron-centric: I’m still getting to know this brand-new Cavs team, while I have 11 years of intense LeBron-watching under my belt.)

Since LeBron James now plays for the Cavaliers again, I thought it would be useful to go back through the last decade-plus of LeBron, and see how he got from the 18-year old kid out of St. Vincent/St. Marys to the four-time MVP and two-time champion who will be suiting up for the Cavs this season. One of the (many) things I always say is truly incredible as LeBron is that he not only came into the league as the most talented prospect of the modern era and lived up to the hype right out of the gate, but he’s improved and changed his game more from when he was first successful to when he hit his prime as much as any player in NBA history.

Almost immediately after the Spurs celebrated the conclusion of their ethereal basketball symphony I found myself between flights in Philly – a three hour layover of infinite possibilities. I searched frantically for uninterrupted charging stations to calm my insatiable device hunger. When the juice finally started flowing, I decided to write the most passive aggressive knock on LeBron James definitive eulogy for the “Big 3” era of pro basketball. I shelved it long enough for the Cavs to sign Kyrie to the Pepsi MAX, LeBron to make peace with NEOhio, and the KLove #WojBomb to detonate. So now what?

Well, Howard Bryant wrote a similar piece in ESPN The Magazine (although he arrived at a much different conclusion) and I have not the fortitude to polish a hot mess while reconciling the central claim with the current situation.

But I’m skeptical about the Cavs dedication to patience. And what the Spurs did was instructive to every team in the NBA. So I’m going to prune and pick from the autosaved “Document 1” that’s been open for months on my laptop and briefly describe what the Cavs should learn from all this.

The Lineup: (Click for Author’s Archive)

Nate Smith is an Associate Editor. He grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, and moved to NE Ohio in 2000. He adopted the Cavs in 2003 and graduated from Kent State in 2009 with a BA in English. He can be contacted at oldseaminer@gmail.com or @oldseaminer on Twitter.

Tom Pestak is an Associate Editor. He's from the west side of Cleveland and lives and (mostly) dies by the success and (mostly) failures of his beloved teams. You can watch his fanaticism during Cavs games @tompestak.

Robert Attenweiler is a Staff Writer. Originally from OH, he's long made his home in NYC where he writes plays and screenplays (www.disgracedproductions.com) some of which end up being about Ohio, basketball or both. He has also written for The Classical and the blog Raising the Cadavalier. You can contact him at rattenweiler@gmail.com or @cadavalier.

Benjamin Werth is a Staff Writer. He was born in Cleveland and raised in Mentor, OH. He now lives in Germany where he is an opera singer and actor. He can be reached at blfwerth@gmail.com.

Cory Hughey is a Staff Writer. He grew up in Youngstown, the Gary, Indiana of Ohio. He graduated from Youngstown State in 2008 with a worthless telecommunications degree. He can be contacted at theleperfromwatts@yahoo.com or @coryhughey on Twitter.

David Wood is our Links Editor. He is a 2012 Graduate of Syracuse University with an English degree who loves bikes, beer, basketball, writing, and Rimbaud. He can be reached on Twitter: @nothingwood.

Mallory Factor is the voice of Cavs: The Podcast. By day Mallory works in fundraising and by night he runs a music business company. To see his music endeavors check out www.fivetracks.com. Hit him up at Malloryfactorii@gmail.com or @Malfii.

John Krolik is the Editor Emeritus of Cavs: The Blog. At present, he is pursuing a law degree at Tulane University. You can contact him at johnkrolik@gmail.com or @johnkrolik.

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